MENTAL HEALTH CHAMPION
Closely tied to his LGBTQ+ activism is Olly’s focus on mental health, having suffered from depression and an eating disorder as a teenager. When he’s not performing, he spends a huge amount of his time raising awareness and campaigning for better mental health services, and speaks openly about how much he’s benefited from therapy and medication. In 2017, he fronted the eye-opening BBC3 docu Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay, exploring the prevalence of mental health issues among the LGBTQ+ community. As he said at the time, “I think it’s really hard for everyone to talk about it, but we have to engage in the message. We have to open up conversations.”